why has our form down down the drain? you cant compare the same set of players from before the carling cup final and the ones now struggling to beat average teams like millwall and coventry at home... some people think its a lack of pace, but that didnt stop us for about 30 games, i agree we are too one dimensional at times but we arent a counter attacking team really, we dont rely on pace. with people like gunnarsson whitts and mcphail in the centre, you are never going to catch teams out from corners in your own half like man u do... the wide players like cowie and mason are good players but IMO in that area its square pegs in round holes at the moment. cowie rarely puts the ball into the box or gets to the byline, i like don but he aint a winger, he leaves that stuff to taylor....mason floats between striker and winger but aint a winger either... i read someone say on here that if we had the calibre of wingers that swansea have then we'd be twice the team we are now and they are right.... lack of options up front is a major issue. i think malky sunk in a big part of his budget on miller, and if i was him at the start of the season i wouldnt turn down the opportunity to sign him... the problem is that the only other orthodox strikers are earnshaw and gestede, in the cold light of day they arent up to standard, even though both are crowd favourites...i think both will go in the summer personally. the loan signings of vukcic and lawrence, well, both fantastic individually but we dont particularly need technical players to play in the centre of the midfield.... lawrence is a fantastic crosser of the ball, if he had pace he'd be one hell of a player, but he doesnt and thats why he'll never be effective at the highest level... the fact that the midfield 3 are pedestrian means that miller is often isolated, mcnaughton often hoofs it up but centre backs in the championship will prefer that than having a pacy striker making runs behind them and keeping them on their toes. especially as this means that they will often drop deeper to cope, meaning that we can keep more possession in the final 3rd like the top teams do....therefore i dont blame miller, i blame the service to him... refereeing decisions, well yes, some have been shocking and directly cost us points and results, and if we were say, 6 points better off and 4th then confidence would be higher and that would lift the players, who are tired, but that masks the fact that we dont create a hatfull of chances each game... with teams who rely on the same players week in week out with no options on the bench, they hit a brick wall at some point unless things are changed about a bit...
Well summed up Swamp. Let's hope Malky's summer shopping list will deal with the obvious shortfalls and give us more pace and variety next season. We also need a bigger squad with more quality to enable him to rotate the team and ensure our best players do not run out of gas in the last third of the season. If there was £3m available for Sordell then that money should still be available, as it was not spent this season, to enable him to build for 2012/13 as a starter for 10. There is a danger that Whitts will move on to the Prem this summer (for the right money of course). Replacing him will be tough but that will also be a key task for Malky. Assuming he pulls in the £3m+ (at least) he is worth that will at least be a start.
I don't see Whitts going to be honest. He would not get picked up by one of the bigger clubs, so I wonder if he would go to a lower table team. I guess the money might sway him, but I am quietly confident he will still be here next season.
I have written to Paul Lambert begging him to sign Whittingham Looking at our current midfield I would say any interest Norwich may have had in him has just about gone. We have so many talented midfielder in the squad now, cant see another one joining unless we can nick Snodgrass from Leeds (our new feeder club )
Papa Smurf is rumoured to want £8m for him although what he wants and gets can be 2 different things.
" Where has it all gone wrong " Transfer windows , again . Hope Cardiff can somehow reach the playoffs this season cause I think things might get worst instead of better after this season , hope I'm wrong though . Can't see Whitts staying after this season to be honest & them's some big cleats to fill .
Well, when you look at the players we have sold over the last 5 seasons, we have always managed to replace them. No matter how often somebody comes onto our board and tells us we are doomed, we seem to do alright. We understand Whitts is very important to us, but we won't explode if he leaves. Why things would get worse is beyond me? A squad that has determination, can play football, and a good core of young players, with an opportunity to strengthen in the summer!
Ok Chaps and Chapasses, I will not reveal my source and you can take it with a pinch of salt for what i am about to say. The lack of transfer activity is down to there being NO Money available for transfers....Gasp....The Reason.. The Malaysians are in the process of paying off the likes of PMG et all so that their ownership and management of the club can be thiers and theirs alone, if they are doing this as i am reliably informed there will be new investment to the club from thier sources. We cannot make the play off's this year imo due to the state of the team at the moment, they are dreadful to watch and you cannot deny that if truth be told, the owners are worried that the ST ticket renewal sales and many of the Price fix ST holders have let their deal lapse, this can be down to simple economics but i suspect that it is more down to the dross that is being served up to us at the moment, i think imo that MM will be given a warchest for next season with a very clear target at the end of it. I wouldnt mind betting that his contract also reflects targets and penalties for failures. Bluueeeebbiiiiiirds.
That all sounds pretty fair although if the £3m bid for Sordell was correct that would have been a major gamble taking into account all the above. I wonder what the current position is with the Langstone debt?
any reduction in gate receipts is never going to drastically affect a clubs budget, so i dont believe thats the reason no money was spent. i was trying to make this thread to discuss whats going wrong for us on the field, not a discussion on which players will go, as most other clubs didnt strengthen in january..
Whats gone wrong on the field is this Swamp, we just arent cutting the mustard me old china plate, thats what is wrong. Long before the CC Final the team started to look poor, we have no pace in the side, cannot create chances because the strikers get no services, that in a nutshell is poor tactics. This game is all about entertainment, and at the moment we are not being entertained as we are not very good. I cant remember a City team as poor as this, probably have to go back to the dark days of the early 80's. You also have to remember lots of our younger fans only know relative success at the club, i just hope MM doesnt take us back to those dim days of the early 80's. I will keep the faith but MM's tactics are driving me up the wall.
well im happy where we are ........on the pitch and even tho cracker tries 2be negative again......the fellas in power are doing the right thing for cardiff as a business,cutting costs and being more realistic. am i the only one who`s happy for cardiff 2be doing this??
I believe they are driving the wages so we comply with the UEFA fair pay rule. Everyone knows the riddler was crap at negotiating players wages and we paid over the odds in the past. The Malaysians have imposed a wage cap, so we're led to understand, which will mean "quality" players won't come to Cardiff. I suggest that when the fair pay rule hits the premier league it will not take too long before the fringe players (in all clubs) will have a rude awakening with regards to the salary they are able to negotiate. The down side for some teams, that have relatively small crowds and restricted national exposure, will not have the ability to offer a player a salary another club will be able to offer. It will be because their revenue stream does not generate enough to offer the salary a player may want. Getting freebies and a good youth academy is the way forward until we're in a position to leverage the far eastern sponsorship opportunities and have a consistently high fan base getting to home matches.
We all have different opinions. However this being the poorest City team since the 80s is laughable. In fact it really did make me laugh out loud. Those City teams struggling at the foot of Div 4 would have lifted the Carling Cup and got us within 2 points of the play offs. The nightmare of the 90s. Andy Saville , Kevin LLoyd etc bring em back hey Ronnie. Superb entertainment. This side would have absolutely smashed every City side through the 90s (barring the Div 4 Championship team who we would have beaten) We lack pace - we are not far short of being a very good team. Hopefully we will get enough players in the summer to challenge again. If we cant then we will build again the following summer after a further clearout of high earners. When we start selling our best players and signing rubbish given frees by Hereford then ill worry about being taken back to League 2. While we are signing the likes of Mason , Turner , Miller etc then im more than happy. Poorest team since the 80s. !!!!!!!!! 20000 fans each week. 15400 renewed for next season. I bet they wished theyd seen Jimmy Gardner , Mark Jones , Pat Heard and Cameron Toshack. LOL!!!!!
We are very close to the PL and have come as close as you can get to lifting a trophy this season. A team full of internationals at various levels. Beats being in the lower part of Div 4 and playing Rochdale in front of a couple of thousand fans. This has been one of the best seasons football wise ive ever watched (partly due to the utter rubbish ive seen in the past I admit). Do miss the terracing , transit vans to away trips etc. But come on the football until Sam came in and started our climb was mostly dire.
i miss transit vans,terraces,cheap food,towns and small cities you`d never go otherwise and freedom 2 pay at the gate and not being treated like a fking sheep herded from around the country.......................other than that i`d take carl dale over any of our latest additions infront of goal the last few years
i agree hilts, its probably a good thing that we're 8th and thats viewed with disappointment. i think the pace thing is a recurring thing throughout the team. hudson and turner are slow, and when isolate one on one you do fear the worst. i agree we're a couple of players away from being a real force but you wonder what is the best strategy....put all your eggs into one basket and bring in relatively high wage signings, or spread funds around a bit more and have a squad...look at swansea when they went up, individually their players arent the best but as a collective they were a good team, whereas we have a tendancy to be the opposite.. blaming the ref, small squad, at this stage of the season....we've heard that god knows how many times before though....considering we have an unhealthy wage / turnover ratio imagine i wonder something isnt quite right...
